DARPA Funds $2.1M Navy Lighting Project

Photonics.comApr 2006
SOLON, Ohio, April 4, 2006 -- Fiber optic lighting supplier Fiberstars has received $2.1 million from DARPA to develop and install high-efficiency distributed lighting (HEDlight) systems on three US Navy ships, company CEO John M. Davenport announced.

The systems will be installed on a Navy destroyer, an LHS amphibious ship and another ship to be determined. This funding award is the culmination of DARPA's HEDlight program, Fiberstars said. DARPA is the central research and development organization for the US Department of Defense.

According to the contract, Fiberstars will install HEDlight systems in engineering control rooms, hangar bays, berths, welldecks and weatherdeck locations of the three ships for the duration of nine-month sea trials. The current fluorescent and incandescent lighting on the ships will be replaced by HEDlight systems, which employ highly efficient metal halide high-intensity discharge and LED sources that are efficiently coupled to large-core plastic optical fiber and/or linear acrylic rods for distribution. During the trials, DARPA and the Navy will compare the new lighting technology to the Navy's fluorescent fixtures in areas such as maintenance costs, lifetime, efficiency and safety and improved lighting.